Nine Mile Canyon

I got up early the morning we were going to Nine Mile Canyon. I was savoring my coffee and reading the news, when I looked out and saw some heavy clouds. I decided I had better check the weather. I had checked the night before, and it had looked good. When I checked again, there was a forecast for heavy rain and thunderstorms in Price. I decided we better start early. Although the road is now paved through Nine Mile Canyon, I wasn't sure what the road conditions might be like or if the road is impassable at times. I went and woke Greg up. We packed up our picnic lunch, loaded the dogs in the truck, and set off for our adventure.

When we got to Price, it was raining steadily. I was still nervous about how the road might be through the canyon. All the info I researched ahead of time said that the road was very difficult when it was wet. I figured we could risk driving out to the canyon, since we knew it was now paved. The mountains were shrouded in rain as we approached the canyon.



We could see a glimmering of blue sky to the east, so we were hopeful that the rain would ease up as we continued into the canyon. After all, there is over 40 miles of canyon, so there was a good chance we would drive out of the rain. The rain lessened as we entered the canyon, which was good, because it made it easier to see landmarks and the scenery.



It is a 27 mile drive from Wellington, where you turn off the highway, to the first major panel of petroglyphs.  After that, it is 20+ miles of wonder and discovery. The first panel of petroglyphs has been heavily visited. There is a lot of scratching and graffiti. We spent a lot of time looking at these, because we had no idea how many more petroglyphs there were to see.









One of the amazing things about the canyon besides the sheer number of petroglyphs, is that you are allowed to approach the petroglyphs. This is a good and bad thing, in my mind. I love to be able to approach the petroglyphs and study them up close. But, people have abused this over the decades, and scratched and defaced some of the petroglyphs. It was especially obvious at the beginning of the canyon. The 30 miles of dirt road discouraged most people from venturing too far. Or maybe it discouraged the types of people who would deface ancient art.

Greg inspecting a group of petroglyphs higher on the cliff face at the first panel



Many of the petroglyph panels are right off the road and easy to access.







Pig Head Rock, the next panel we visited was right next to this landmark.



This panel contains the famous Juggler or Balloon Man







Sadly, there is also evidence of vandalism here. Besides the pockmarks left by bullets, the light colored square on the left of the picture is where someone removed a petroglyph. We could see the chisel marks in the rock. There is also graffiti in the upper right.



The sun came out and it warmed up as we continued to explore the canyon.  There are thousands of panels in the canyon, and we saw a fraction of what is there. You feel like if you take a hike up one of the side canyons, you just may find a petroglyph that no one has seen for hundreds of years.

Greg demonstrating the proper "point but don't touch" technique



There were so many petroglyphs to see









The road through the canyon was built by the Buffalo Soldiers (Ninth Calvary) in 1886. For a time, it was a heavily traveled road, and the main route for the stage and mail. The road runs between Wellington and Myton (if you take Gate Canyon out), and there are visible remnants of the original road in Gate Canyon. There are lots of old buildings in the canyon, including the ghost town of Harper, and old stage coach stations. We did not stop at any of these, but we will in future visits.

Looking east into Nine Mile Canyon



There are also pictographs in Nine Mile Canyon. Pictographs are painted on the rock instead of carved, like petroglyphs. Some of the easiest to access are at Rasmussen's Cave, which is more of a deep recess in the canyon wall than a cave.







I am not sure why this was necessary. It certainly marred one of the best pictographs in the cave.



There are also petroglyphs in the cave. The depressions in the stone at the bottom of the picture are where corn was ground.



There are also lots of ancient Fremont ruins in the canyon, including pit houses, watchtowers, and granaries. These are very difficult to see if you don't know what you are looking for and we didn't. Were we actually seeing what was described in the guides, or were we only looking at a natural tumble of rocks? We spotted one granary high on the canyon wall, but we weren't sure about the watchtowers we were supposed to be seeing. Luckily, the online guide from Climb-Utah.com gives a good description of where and what to look for, as does BLM's online guide. We stopped at the Fremont village at the entrance to Cottonwood Canyon, where the descriptions in the guides made the ruins obvious even to our inexperienced eyes.

Greg standing at the remains of a pit house. All that remains is a ring of rocks. The ledge across the canyon also has some structures.



One of the structures on the ledge (to the left of the red striped boulder). With binoculars you can see how the rocks are chinked together with clay.



The next panel of petroglyphs we visited was the Great Hunt Scene. This is the most famous panel in the canyon. It is the also the only place in the canyon where we ran into a lot of people. It was Labor Day weekend, but we had only run into about 10 people the whole day, and never at one time. We ended up passing the same people throughout the day here and there throughout the canyon. There was a large group of 30 or so who were traveling together at the Great Hunt Scene. It's hard to miss a convoy of 3 pick ups, especially when one of the trucks had about 9 kids in the back. We didn't see them anywhere else in the canyon, and wondered if they had driven out just to see this panel.

The Great Hunt







We left fairly quickly to escape the crowd (and the little boys who thought it was fun to tease our dogs waiting in the truck by barking at them). On our way out of Cottonwood Canyon, we saw a sign that said "Big Buffalo Petroglyph". We pulled over, but the petroglyphs were not visible from the road. We decided to go ahead and hike over to the canyon wall. We were very glad we did. It was one of the best panels we had seen all day, and we had it to ourselves.















We decided to end our visit with this panel. The sky was darkening again, and we were planning to leave by Gate Canyon, which is an unpaved road. We didn't want to risk any flooding if it started to rain. It was a long day, but well worth it. We are determined to return and stay longer. There is so much  more to see, and so much that we missed.

If you decide to visit the canyon, go prepared. There is no water available and no cell service. The road is paved, but there is still the possibility the road could be impassable due to flooding if there is heavy rain.  Since the road was recently paved, it can be difficult to find places to turn out. The guides aren't completely accurate anymore, some of the landmarks have shifted, and some signs are missing due to the paving. There is a lot of gas and oil exploration and drilling happening in the area, and there is the potential for large trucks on the road in the canyon. Take more time to visit the petroglyphs that are farther in the canyon. We found those to be less marred by graffiti. Bring binoculars. There are lots of petroglyphs visible from the road, and the binoculars make it much easier to see and find them. There is a lot of private property in the canyon, so obey all the posted signs. There is no camping in the canyon, but Nine Mile Ranch has accommodations and campsites, and it is pet friendly. Our plan is to stay there next time.

The petroglyphs tell a story, even if we no longer know what that original story or meaning was. It is still possible to sit and ponder these works of art and story telling in relative silence and solitude.  Nine Mile Canyon is a national treasure. If it was anywhere else in the country, it would probably be a national park or monument, but Utah has so many of these places, this one does not have any special protection. Whether it should have more protection or not and how to do it is a whole other post (or even blog).  Regardless, everyone who can should see this place. It is best experienced in person. Go visit it and be amazed.